http://coachingblog.energese.com     Reflections on studying with the International Coach Academy Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:17:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After a couple of months of hardcore business building, it's time to re-commit to maintaining this blog. In the meantime I've done many hours of coaching, which for me still leads to new insights into the workings of the human mind. That is the beauty of coaching. If we can't see ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/07/28/pulling-stuff-into-your-present/ Suffering is resisting. It's a strong statement. Strong in the sense that it leaves us with at least half the responsibility for our suffering. One part of the equation is the world that we resist. The other part is obviously us resisting it. If we accept this, does it help us ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/03/10/suffering-is-resisting/ There is something odd about the feeling that we deserve something, and frankly I can't quite put my finger on what is going on. Does this feeling make sense anyway? Does it serve us, or does it mostly stand in our way? Many people for example believe that they don't deserve to ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/03/08/do-you-deserve/ The Higher Self. This is just a concept, a helpful construction that makes our thinking more powerful. And it can also reveal some underlying believes about how the universe works. In my case there is a belief, and I'm not sure how metaphysical it really is: I believe that everyone of ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/03/06/the-higher-self/ Some of you readers already know that I have a new domain name: http://freedomcoa.ch. I figured that my whole life was about gaining freedom, breaking free from patterns and limitations, becoming more of what I am, and becoming my true me. So, I thought, why not making that my niche. If ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/03/04/freedomcoach/ I never stop being amazed about some people, especially men, who are reluctant to share their inner workings. They don't speak about what they think and feel. Somehow they must think that it could reveal something about them, and let us judge them easier, or manipulate them easier. By not ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/03/01/my-mind-is-my-castle/ Before you call the thought police: no, I'm not about to raise my voice for legalizing drugs. Well .... no. I'm not. I don't even smoke. I'm here introducing the Okey-Dope, the drug that is perfectly legal and makes us high. You can produce it yourself. It's healthy, and yes, it ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/27/okey-dopey/ Recently I became a bit frustrated. I had been working on many projects since the beginning of the year. And for a variety of reasons, I felt very unsatisfied with the outcomes. Pressure was building up, and then there came the point where I though I just can't stand it ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/25/hanging-in-there/ Just do it. One has to congratulate the sportswear company we all know for coming with this slogan and making it their own. I live only half an hour away from the headquarters of Adidas and Puma, so when it comes to sports equiment, I'm slightly biased by a sense of ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/22/just-do-it/ Recently I began to journal losely again. Whenever I feel like it I pull out my Moleskine Notebook and write a couple of line about whatever topic pops up. Suprisingly there's always something popping up, and the outcome is often creative and of a good quality.When I was posting ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/21/inner-traffic-report/ Magic Rushrooms. Yeah, I know. No, it's not a typo.I could have entitled this post 'Living in Slow Motion' as well, because it's about both, rush and slowness. When I was younger I loved organizing events, and I did a lot of it. I was pretty successful as well. A reason ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/16/magic-rushrooms/ We all are creatures constantly creating thoughts. And the thoughts are able to create feelings. Where do all the thoughts come from?You become what you think about, right? There is a lot of truth on this adage, and we don't have to go to the metaphysical in order to see ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/14/the-chatterbox/ While we were growing grow up we all heard a lot of messages about money, like Money doesn't grow on trees. We can't afford that. I'm not working hard enough We might be poor but at least we're honest. You only get rich by taking advantage of others. a s**t-load of money stinking rich We don't have to hear these ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/13/coaching-around-money/ A couple of months ago I read Taming Your Gremlin. Generally I like all kinds ways of dealing with our minds and its complexity. And obviously this method works for people. At least it is cute enough to gain quite a fan community, whether they're using it or not. Even in ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/10/gremlins/ Here are a two very different ways of getting things done when there is resistance: #1 Trick yourself by adding outside structures #2 Ignore the Mindfrick Look at my last post with Graham White's list. These are all examples of #1. But what the heck is Mindfrick?Mindfrick is a term introduced by ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/08/tricking-or-treating/ The former headcoach of peakpotentials, Graham White has set up levels of accountability that could be interesting to every coach. This material isn't accessible over the internet anymore, but Graham's website is here:  www.incrediblepotential.com. Frank Levels Of Accountability: Conscience. This works for the things you already are successful at 100% of the time. Written Record ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/05/21/ Just a quick thought today: When we are hard on each other, there is quite some energy used up on being hard, on being pushy, on finding ways to make somebody feel bad and incomplete. What if we used that energy to go forward without wasting a lot on all the ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/02/02/gentleness-preserves-energy/ There is no You and Me. Bold statement. Here's one of my deep level premises: On a certain level of our sub-consciousness there is no separation between you and me, there is only - hmmm - let's call it 'I'. With 'I' I don't mean what our conscious mind thinks of ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/31/there-is-no-you-and-me/ We had a discussion in our Mastermind Mind Group (MMG) recently about how to handle / motivate ourselves best in order to get results. Carrot or Stick? One member argued that setting up punishments for himself works best. The fear of feeling humiliated, or the prospect of having something to do ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/30/gentleness-vs-tough-love-vs-toughness/ In the class "AC100, UACs, part 2" that I attended last Thursday, the instructor Angela Bird pointed out that she looks at UACs as attachments. That was a good clue on how to handle UACs. I'm not sure whether the UAC definition is actually fully compatible with the concept of attachments. Here's again a ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/28/always-winning-part-3/  In a comment on my last blog entry "You're Always Winning", Margit wrote:   I am mulling on the “You’re always winning at the game you’re playing”…what if life wasn’t about winning or losing the game. What if it is just about being in the game? What if we could let go of ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/25/always-winning-part-2/ Recently I attended the ICA class 'Action vs. Delay' with Merci Miglino, and one of my fellow students said "You're always winning at the game you're playing" (thank you for letting us know!). What a profound statement! I wouldn't want to swear that it's always true, but I know that ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/24/youre-always-winning/ My current coach David Koons as well as one of my great ICA peer coaches made me aware of the priorities in my life. If you lead a busy life it's rather easy to do what you know you need to do in order to satisfy the needs of your clients, business ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/20/focus-and-priorities/ After my last post I looked closer into the definition of the UACs, as defined by the ICA. I will cite some core statements from the related document, and then reflect a bit on them: "We say that people are always committed to something, whether conscious of it or not. [...]  ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/19/underlying-automatic-commitments/ It's an universally accepted principle that coaching as it is defined isn't concerned with the past of the client, but with his oder her present and future. Methods dealing with the past are called therapy, and coaching is all about designing the future. It's also well known that there are ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/18/past-and-future-in-coaching-and-therapy/ Three days ago an Uncle of mine died, the elder and only brother of my father. When a death happens in the family or circle of friends, it certainly brings our own mortality to the forefront of our thinking, like it or not. Especially when we are not many years away ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/14/death-comes-ahead-of-time/ Recently we had a class "Game vs. Significance", and the teleclass leader Bill asked us what area or issue there is in our life where we could introduce a bit more game and lessen the significance. More game means more fun, means more motivation, means probably more success. I first thought: ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/12/game-vs-significance/ Today I sat in a café preparing for my PHP 5.0 certification exam. PHP is a programming language for dynamically generating websites, like this blog for example. Sometimes programming offers some insights in how the mind works. I've always been interested in how the mind works. That's why I spent 6 ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/08/8/ Had to think about gratitude and appreciation a lot these days. And of course, more info on this would pop up from somewhere as soon as I focused on it. First was a blog entry by Joe Vitale http://mrfire.blogspot.com/2007/01/you-are-here.html and then a blog of a fellow coach, Margit the family coach: http://familycoach.wordpress.com/2007/01/07/happy-right-now Joe says ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/07/appreciation-of-what-is/ I became aware today that there are assessment guidelines for this blog issued by the ICA, together with criteria and a marking system. Well, my intention is to make the best out of this oportunity, so here is the plan: Make 3 – 4 entries a week Make a connection to at ... http://coachingblog.energese.com/2007/01/06/assessment-guidelines-for-this-blog/